1. An abnormal hatred or intolerance for certain sounds: Some of the misophonias that torture, or greatly disturb and upset, some people include sounds made by other people when they are slurping, chomping, and chewing while eating.

For some sufferers of misophonia, one minute of listening to someone chewing gum is similar to listening to an hour of fingernails scratching on a chalkboard.

2. An abhorrence or loathing of sounds: Misophonia goes beyond just being irritated by sudden loud noises; because people also may have negative reactions to sounds that seem to be out of control and they are powerless to stop them!

With specific phobias the perceived emotions are usually anxiety, while in misophonias there are often aggressive reactions.

Coined by the married researchers Margaret and Pawel Jastreboff of Emory University in 2002, misophonia is sometimes referred to as "selective sound sensitivity syndrome".

Those who have the newly recognized disorder of misophonia, despise certain noises (known as "trigger sounds") including eating noises, lip-smacking, pen clicking, tapping and typing, and some of them respond with stress, anger, irritation and, in extreme cases, violent rage.